October 31, 2012

Apple finally gets the Lion trademark, iTunes is delayed due to internal paranoia while Samsung focuses on a new Custom ARM processor and reveals a new tri-fold flexible display smartphone design they have in their labs.

The US Patent and Trademark Office Registers Apple's "Lion" Trademark

Although Apple has already moved onto OS X "Mountain Lion," the US Patent and Trademark Office has finally registered Apple's "Lion" trademark. Perhaps with half of it already approved we'll see Apple's "Mountain Lion" trademark application filed on July 09, 2012 get fast tracked. I'm only kidding. The government fast track something? Ha!

Apple's iTunes 11 Delayed until Late November due to Paranoia

CNET's Josh Lowensohn reports that Apple's spokesman Tom Neumayr told him that the "The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right. We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface, and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November."

Translation: We screwed up badly on Maps and Scott Forstall is out for it. Hell if that's going to happen to iTunes or more heads will roll. Yes – Paranoia now rules the day at Apple.

By the way, all of the stock analysts tearing at Forstall to keep Apple's stock price from falling further are just Apple mouthpieces. How do you go from being a Steve Jobs protege, as Bloomberg puts it, to being a negative force at Apple after a single misstep? Internal politics is how, and it stinks.

I hope to see Forstall bounce back next year and I'm sure that any major Apple competitor will be lucky to have him. If Meg Whitman is awake, then here's HP's chance to excite their base with someone who actually "gets" the new mobile space! Time will tell if Meg has what it takes to make the grab of the decade.

Samsung Copies Apple with Custom ARM Processor

Samsung Electronics has teamed up with U.K.-based semiconductor designer ARM to develop the Exynos 5400 advanced mobile application processors to be used in the Galaxy SIV scheduled to be unveiled early next year, according to industry sources Wednesday.

The report states that "Samsung's system division ― part of the firm's semiconductor business ― is in the process of developing advanced system chips with ARM by using 28-nanometer high-k metal gate (HKMG) technology."

Additionally, the reports states that "Samsung has applied ARM's most-advanced Cortex A15-architecture to the new chip. That means the Exynos 5400 is much faster and far better in battery consumption than its predecessor as it uses four core CPUs and a graphic processing unit.

If Apple has a customized ARM processor, so must Samsung. Hmm, this copying trend never seems to end. You could read more about this from the Korea Times.

Samsung gets Aggressive with Flex Displays for Future Smartphone

Samsung has been very aggressive with patents for multi-display and flex display smartphone designs this year and was the first to mass produce flex displays back in September. Samsung has always been thought of as a copycat designer, be it for smartphones or refrigerators. But if Samsung could ever deliver on some of their latest smartphone designs in the coming years, they just might be able to shed their copycat image and take on a leadership position in the industry.

Samsung is gaining momentum whether people like it or not and the world is waiting for Samsung to step up to the plate and deliver some great innovation in the mobile space. Can they do it? Are they all talk and no action? Time will tell. For now, Patent Bolt uncovers a new Samsung tri-fold flex display smartphone design on record and it holds a lot of potential. Apple has been experimenting with flex displays, but nothing in this magnitude.

Comments

Cook Apologized, but the price was to fire Forstall. Not much of an apology. Look, Apple could have just pulled the software and just say that they would reintroduce it at a later time, without anyone getting fired. This was in the making for some time considering that Forstall sold his shares. The "problem" was there, Cook was just waiting for the right time.

You say "this is standard business practice the world over" in respect to gagging Forstall legally from defending himself. That's what sucks here. Cook knew this and fed the press information to make Apple out to be the good guy here. Bullshit. The fact that Cook is letting word get out from other Apple sources about how divisive Forstall allegedly was is to try to hurt Forstall. Forstall is going to come back to haunt Apple over and over again. Just one year after Steve Jobs passing and shit like this happening points to more trouble in paradise. Jobs was the glue. And now Apple is going to lose their respect. I've totally lost respect for Cook's handling of this contrary to the suck ass Apple press.

They're reorganizing because of the massive hole that Forstall's departure leaves. I don't buy any of Apple's propaganda. This is Apple panicking and it's not a pretty picture, at all.

You're right that CEO's should take ultimate responsibility for their products but so should the exec directly responsible. Cook did, by making a public apology. Forstall didn't. I'd heard that Forstall was a hugely divisive figure at Apple long before he got the chop - the subsequent gossip is not justification after the fact, but rather continuations of rumours. Yes, Forstall isnt able to defend himself, which is a shame for him, but this is standard business practice the world over. It's true some people were mentioning him as potential CEO post-Jobs, but you can find people to say almost anything about Apple. No-one who's opinion I trust was suggesting this. If Cook was getting rivals out of his way, there are several others who could be much more of a threat who are still there - some of whom have just been promoted.

Don't get me wrong - I find Cooks presentation skills somewhat lacking, and repetitive - but that isn't why he's CEO. I think he knows this, which is why he talks about the financials, and lets Schiller et al do the rest. Personally I liked Forstalls spots at keynotes, and as head of iOS, he's had some major success, but as CEO, cook is charged with making difficult decisions, and I think this is one of them. He hasn't just fired one maverick, he's completely reorganised the executive team. Time will tell if it was the right call, or if, like hiring Browett, it was a big mistake

This was a very hard year for everyone at Apple with the passing of Steve Jobs. No one was calling for Forstall's head until this firing. The public is sucking up only Apple's side of the events with Forstall legally gagged from discussing his side of things. That's Apple at its worse and I'm disappointed in Apple's handling of this.

Didn't the big shot CEO Cook check out Maps before it shipped? Isn't he the one that has to check this stuff out before giving it the green light? Of course he is, but he decided to chop Forstall, his rival, out the door. It stinks to high heaven.

Between Cook's boring presentations and personality and his ridiculous apology it looks to me that my favorite company is showing a lot of cracks of late and I can't wait for the day that Cook get's the boot. Give it a little time, it's coming.

And Ive, he created the failed Cube and a lot of crap at Apple. Thinning down a product is NOT INNOVATION.

Equally as important, this was Cook's chance to make a post-Jobs CEO decision, one which, in my view, shows his strength and independence as the leader within Apple. And no one can deny his execution was anything less than calculated with the announcement their retail chief was gone as well new enhanced roles for Cue, Federighi, and Ive.

There's no doubt Forstall has been an extremely important member of the executive team, responsible for turning IOS into the dominate mobile OS today...we see the struggles of the upgrade path with Android and to a lesser extent, Windows Phone and we have to applaud Forstall for making 100 MILLION IOS6 upgrades possible within 30 days, without compatibility issues across their entire Mobile Hardware Platform.

Nevertheless, the reality is there have been a lot of screw ups lately...MAPS, SIRI, Passbook and even IOS6 itself as a whole. There have been numerous bugs reported, moreso than for any previous IOS release. The grey area of overlap between Ive's design cues versus Forstall's preferences (really, the only cool thing you could add to Passbook was a shredder animation?!?)

Factor all the above with Forstall's mini-Jobs ego and you can't help sympathize with the rest of the Apple executives. And by sympathize, I don't mean that as a point of weakness. Apple is the most valuable Company on Earth, it's executives need to be able to execute on an amazingly high level together...the only execution to this real is reserved for the Founder(s) of any Company - Wozniak and Jobs are both gone.

This could be an exciting time for Apple if it can build some momentum and more consistency within it's software offerings. I hope Ive's nearly 20 years at Apple has prepared him for this enormous responsibility.

Although I've never had problems with Siri, it's clear that that was considered a misstep by the company, too. So that makes 2 in a row. It also seems that it was coming to the point where a decision had to be made between Ive or Forstall and they went for Ive, probably the right one in my opinion